Electronic organizers typically include a number of different functions, such as a contact/address list, a calendar/date book, and a To Do list. While the contact list and calendar functions are popular with many users, the To Do list and other list functions are rarely used because they have limited utility. For example, while a user could write anything she wanted to on the electronic list, other than highlighting an entry, indicating an entry has been completed, or deleting an entry, the list performs no other function. Likewise, with a paper list, users write entries on the list, highlight the entries, cross the entries off the list, or erase the entries. In this sense, an electronic list is not really different from a paper list, other than the medium on which it is created. In other words, the electronic list is not interactive.
The medium of the electronic list does, however, make it possible for the electronic list to be something more than an electronic version of a paper list. Electronic organizers such as Palm and Microsoft Pocket PC compatible devices can be programmed to provide greater utilities for an electronic list. For example, a shareware web clipping application called Mobile List 1.0 allows different groups of users to manage and share lists of information and to access those lists with mobile devices. Although users create these lists, the lists themselves perform no interactive function. A similar shareware software application is TealInfo v3.11 by TealPoint Software that allows users to create lists, reference tables, numbers, and guides in data “Folios,” which look and feel like mini applications, but these mini applications are limited to running on the mobile device on which the application is created, and not in conjunction with external devices.
Programmed lists are also used to locate addresses and stores external to the mobile devices on which they are created, but these lists do not interact with external devices. For example, with Vicinity BrandFinder 1.3, a user can select a branded restaurant or store from a pre-created list, and the Palm organizer will provide the user with information about the nearest selected restaurant or store to the user based on the user's current address or location, as entered by the user. Likewise, shopping list software, such as SplashShopper by SplashData, a shareware application for Palm operating system (“OS”) handhelds, enables users to build lists of groceries to buy, books to read, movies to rent, etc.
While programs such a SplashShopper include a number of built in details that make it easier for users to build useful lists, such as a preloaded list of generic names for items to buy (i.e., apples, bottled water, bologna, bagels), preloaded categories for each generic item (i.e., fruits, beverages, deli meats, breads), the user has to enter the price for each item and the aisle numbers where the items can be found. For example, the only way a user can put on their list that bottled water costs $0.99/bottle, and can be found on Aisle 7A, is because the user has previously gone through the laborious process of entering the price and location information for bottled water. Generic items, such as “bottled water,” are not brand specific so users cannot select among different types of bottled water at different prices and possibly even in different locations within the store (i.e., a general aisle versus a specialty food section). If a user wanted to skip the generic items and create their own list, they could, but they would have to enter all of the details, such as the name of the item, its category, price, location, etc., which can be awkward and time consuming on a handheld device.
An alternative system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,129,276, issued to Jelen, et al., which discloses a shopping list that can be created by using a bar code scanner to input Uniform Product Codes from the labels of previously purchased products or manufacturer's coupons, in addition to hand inputting information.
Other shopping list programs, which do not use scanned information, such as Shopping List Deluxe by Spitting-Image Software, include preloaded data, such as the type of units an item is packaged in (i.e., plastic, box, jar, can), and the amount needed in units (i.e., ½ pound, 20 ounce, 5 medium sized). Shopping List Deluxe even allows users to create a map of their favorite store by copying an empty store into their handheld, adding or removing items and locations within the store, and assigning aisle numbers to the store locations. Users can also share their store maps with other users over the Internet. There are a number of problems with such maps, including: (1) stores frequently changing the location of items within the stores; (2) the impracticality of users manually entering the thousands of different items found in each store; and (3) fully loaded maps would be so full of information that they would be too inconvenient to be useful.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,185,541, issued to Scroggie, et al., combines a shopping list with a coupon/information delivery system. To receive the shopping list generator and information, a user must first log into the system through a computer network and register with the system. The user can thereafter browse through information on the system over the World Wide Web or via email. If a user chooses a coupon (purchase incentive), the user must provide additional personal information and designate a specific retailer for redemption of the coupon. In accordance with the Scroggie system, users can get focused incentives if they supply a unique identification, the purchasing information (i.e., a credit card) that will be used for in-store purchases, and have established a record of past shopping behavior upon which the focused incentives can be based. U.S. Pat. No. 6,415,261, issued to Cybul, et al., discloses a frequent shopper program that is likewise based on collecting a customer's shopping history at the point of sale system within the retail store and using that information to determine the customer's entitlement to frequent shopper discounts.
Jelen, et al. also disclose that lists can be transmitted to base units situated at a retailer via a computer network and then downloaded onto bulky computer terminals affixed to shopping carts within the retailer's store when the user visits the store. The portable customer terminal, which is coupled to a bar code scanner, then communicates with the base unit to identify the terminal's general location within the store and to communicate the shopper's product purchases as they are scanned into the terminal and to download advertisements to the user based on the scanned information or the user's location within the store. Scanned in products can then be added to or removed from the shopper's purchase list, and used to create a running expense total. By establishing various zones within the store, unique advertisements for each of the zones can be transmitted to the shopper when in each zone. Despite its location sensing capability, the Jelen, et al. system does not identify the actual location of items within the store to the shopper, and despite its ability to communicate with a host system operated by the retailer; the system does not verify and confirm the shopper's list against the retailer's database of existing products. In other words, the shopping list is a static feature of the Jelen, et al. system, rather than a location and selection tool.
GPS-based devices in electronic organizers and automobiles include functions that can simplify the process of finding the location of a single item, such as an address, within a large area, such as a metropolitan area, but they do not assist users in finding a sequential list of items within such an area. GPS devices also operate in conjunction with external GPS navigation systems so they are not totally dependent on user-entered information in order to function properly. While some GPS devices enable users to select locations based on pre-created lists, once a user has entered a location into the GPS device, the user can add that location to a list created by the user. Once a location has been chosen from a list, the GPS device will communicate with the GPS navigation system (such as a satellite) and calculate the route (based on user preferences, such as shortest route, fastest route, etc.) for the user to take in order to get to the chosen location. Theoretically, a user could create a list of locations to visit and simply run down that list as each location is visited, but the user would have to re-engage the GPS device after each item on the list was located in order to get the system to identify the location of the next item. In other words, the GPS device would not automatically move on to the next location as each location is visited, and other than providing route and address information to the location, the user is provided with no other information about the chosen location.
An additional example is the Pocket Wine List 1.01, which enables users to match food to pre-created lists of wine, so as to find the most appropriate wine for certain types of food. While the Pocket Wine List includes information about each of the wines on the list, it operates in the same fashion as a physical reference book about wine. Hence, the Pocket Wine List is just an electronic reference book and is not an interactive list.
Internet users can also shop for groceries and many other items on-line through the use of various websites. Many of these sites include an extensive list of items available from that retailer, the price of each item, the quantity available, the sizes, etc., like shopping list software, only based on the information provided by the website. Most on-line purchase websites use so-called “shopping cart” software for holding items selected by users while they shop on-line and for simplifying the checkout and purchasing process. Once a user has purchased selected items, the retailer collects the items from their store or warehouse and delivers them to the user. Internet shoppers at such websites do not, however, get to select the specific items they may want to purchase. While this may not be significant for generic items like computer software in shrink-wrapped packages, it makes a big difference when the item being purchased is a bag of fruit or vegetables. For example, the fruit or vegetables might not be of the size, odor, ripeness or quality that the user would have chosen had the user been in the store making the selections. Likewise, if a can of food is delivered to the buyer with a dent in the can, the buyer doesn't know if it was dented after being collected by the retailer or was dented during delivery to the store, but either way, if the buyer does not trust dented cans, the buyer's only choice is to reject the can when it is delivered or return it later, order it again, and hope it is correct the next time.
None of the organizer based-lists, locater devices or Internet shopping aides discussed above collectively enable a user to create their own list of items on the organizer or locater, communicate with external devices to locate each of the items within a geographically limited area, sequentially progress through the list of items as each item is selected, and provide discounts toward, information about, or alternatives to the selected items.
Proximity marketing or advertising enables sellers to offer product or service information or discounts to potential customers that are near an item to be sold. Within a grocery store, for example, advertisements for products sold within the store are placed on the aisle racks, on shopping carts, on signs hanging from the ceiling, and even on the flooring. Although such advertisements may be placed in close proximity to the items being marketed, the proximity marketers have no actual information as to whether potential customers are interested in the product being advertised, other than by assuming that they might be interested in products near their location in the store.
Another proximity marketing technique involves broadcasting messages, such as wireless email messages, to potential customers' wireless devices as those customers pass by the outside of a store. Again, the marketers of such information have no idea if a passerby is interested in the products or services of the store broadcasting the messages, that a passerby will even be looking at their wireless device at an appropriate point in time, or that the device is capable of receiving such messages. A slightly improved technique is practiced by a virtual queuing system called the Q-bot, which is a wireless device issued to users wishing to reserve a position in a line for a popular ride at an amusement park while continuing to walk around the park. The Q-bot system can track a user's location within the park and offer them discounts on food or other items when they near a restaurant or other facility. The Q-bot system, however, still has no idea whether users are interested in the restaurant or facility at the time such information is provided, nor does the Q-bot system enable users to create their own list of items in which they are interested.
Target stores have adopted a different approach to offering customers discounts on items through a paperless coupon system that enables the store to personalize promotions. A customer must first download offers from Target displayed on their home computer onto a Target credit card embedded with a computer chip, using a card reader that Target provides for free. The customer then uses the card at Target to redeem the coupons. Each Target store can then keep track of how much of certain items a customer has purchased and offer that customer subsequent discounts on related items or otherwise track the customer's buying patterns and adjust their promotions accordingly.
A similar type of system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,887,271, issued to Powell, which includes a smart card, a display kiosk, and a checkout station in the checkout area of a store. In accordance with Powell, the customer comes into the store with the smart card pre-loaded with coupons the customer hopes to redeem, inserts the card into the kiosk to view the location of products corresponding to the coupons stored on the card, goes about the store attempting to find the products, and redeems the coupons upon completion of shopping by inserting the card into the checkout station. U.S. Pat. No. 5,887,271, issued to Deaton, et al., describes a similar smart card system, with a similar kiosk for displaying coupon offers, like that disclosed in Powell, but which uses the customer's real-time product purchase information, collected from a point of sale system, to generate incentives that can be presented to the customer during the shopping transaction.
While the Target system and Powell smart card system do enable users to predetermine the items they are interested in purchasing at a discount, users have to determine what products they want based on the coupons being offered, rather than being able to select the items they want and then determine if any coupons apply. Both systems are also restricted to offering customers coupons before they start shopping rather than while they are actively shopping in the store. The system described by Deaton, et al., at least adds the ability to offer customers coupons while they are checking out, but not while they are actually shopping and in a position to evaluate whether they want a product based on the coupon or not. The Q-bot system and similar proximity marketing systems collect no information about the particular interests of a consumer and use mere conjecture when offering information or discounts, or force customers to choose discounted products that may not otherwise be of interest to the consumer. In other words, the companies running these promotions can only make guesses about what might interest a user at a particular time based on prior purchases by that user or their present location. Such companies do not use information about a user's current wants or needs to target marketing promotions specific to that user based on such wants or needs.